Quantum Computing has been a field of intense research lately, with companies like Google believing they are close to mastering it. In reality, however, quantum computing is progressing at an extremely slow pace, due to the limited capabilities offered by existing hardware .
But now with the discovery of a new superconducting material, we may finally see that much-needed boost that Quantum Computing needs to advance to the next stage.
The discovery of the new material, which researchers at Johns Hopkins University have named β-Bi2Pd, is unique in that it can exist in a quantum state naturally, without the influence of magnetic fields to achieve this state.
Yufan Li, a postdoctoral fellow and the first author of the research, said: "We have found that a particular superconducting material contains special properties that could be the building blocks for the technology of the future.".
Quantum computers work differently from the classical computers we use in our homes and offices. Unlike normal computing where information is carried in 0 or 1 bits, quantum mechanics allows an individual to be in both a 0 and a 1 state at the same time. Bits, which are also the basic unit in quantum mechanics, are called qubits.
Where other superconducting materials require the application of magnetic fields to each qubit to reach the quantum state, the new material is naturally in a quantum state. The researchers noted that a β-Bi2Pd ring already exists at points where electric current can flow both clockwise and counterclockwise simultaneously
Recently, IBM announced a 53-qubit quantum computer that will soon be installed at IBM's Quantum Computation Center in New York. But even the dozens of quantum computers available on IBM's quantum network are not enough to turn quantum computing into a mainstream technology.
But the study's authors believe that the newly discovered superconducting material will bridge the larger part of Quantum Computing, thanks to the material's stability and low maintenance requirement.
